This occurrence of radioactive tufa is situated in Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park, at the settlement of Liard River on the Alaska Highway.
Radioactivity is present in the water and calcareous tufa deposits at the hotsprings. Material from the deposit was tested by X-ray fluorescence, and apparently contains little or no uranium or thorium (Geological Survey of Canada Economic Geology Report Number 16). The radioactivity was attributed to radon gas and possibly radium salts derived from unknown bedrock sources. The temperature of the water in the hottest pool at the springs is up to 50 degrees centigrade (Geological Survey of Canada Paper 72-32).
The area is underlain by Upper Devonian to Mississippian shale, argillite, siltstone, sandstone and minor limestone of the Besa River Formation (Geological Survey of Canada Maps 46-1962, 1712A, 1713A).